Night walleyes??

[deerdude]

I have been coming up to lbdn for a couple years now and was wondering why hardly anyone jigs for walleyes after dark?? It seems that once it gets dark I hardly ever mark any fish. Any answers??

[The Bait Shop Guy]

It seems that once it gets dark I hardly ever mark any fish.

You pretty much answered your own question. It's hard to understand how a body of water can go from such a hot night bite in the fall, to virtually no night bite in the winter.

Ain't no 'splainin' it.

[raywriter]

I spent some time tonight checking shallower spots I considered likely places for walleyes to visit after dark. No such luck. A 24" pike stopped by breifly before sunset, but the glass-eyes remained elusive. I jigged large spoons as attractors, then put lively shiners down on slip-float rigs. I had fish show on the locator near bottom in 10' to 13' but just one hit and I missed that one. Incidentally, that hit came in on a wiggler I had down near bottom in thirteen feet for any perch that might approach. It may have been a whitefish. I'm seeing them occasionally on a camera in nearby deeper water (28'). Not sure if they move shallower at night. Shallowest I fished today was 8', deepest 13'.

[CaptainKenLee]

We used to get a lot of walleyes after dark in shallow water after all the commotion of people going in was done. I can remember several guide trips with many nice fish caught after dark. Seemed like there was a good bite that started about a full hour or so after dark set in. However, that was when the water wasn't crystal clear. We would fish in 6 to 10 feet of water near weeds and the bite was good. Of course you had to be quiet, and we used only enough light to see, but all that has changed now with the zebras clearing the water up so much. I don't think as many fish are going shallow at night like they used to. Now it's pretty much a twi-light early morning, late afternoon bite (no-matter what depth you're fishing). That can change if we get a thaw and the rivers start running (making the water dirty), we've seen that scenario bring in lots of fish and they stay shallow until the water clears again. Good luck fishing...

[springfield]

Just wondering if anyone has tried fishing at 11:00pm to 3:00am. I used to do alright in the mid of the night, it seems like the fish would hit right at dark then shut down for 4 or 5 hours then hit again. I havent tried it in a few years though.

[jtourangeau]

I used to sit out a few hours after dark.Mostly I would catch Ellpout on tip ups.Been awhile since I caught one of those.I quit fishing now about an hour after dark,sometimes sooner depending on if mark anything.

[SheHateMe]

I know for a fact that you can catch walleyes off of the Terrace in 4-10 FOW after dark. I use to set tip ups in very very shallow and catch fish now and again. I never put too much effort into it but there are fish in there well after dark. I just never had the urge to pack up in the dark and set up all over again in the shallows.